Area 2 Committee Meeting Minutes

Date: April 19, 2006
Via: Teleconference

Designated Federal Official

• Terry L. Mapp, Philadelphia, PA

Members Present

• Bill Bly, Wayne, PA
• Paul Brubaker, York, PA,
• Emilio Cecchi, North Bethesda, MD, Vice Chair
• Lee Congdon, Washington, DC
• Blanche Davis, Rehoboth Beach, DE
• JoAnn Davis, Scott Depot, WV
• Robert Haines, Lebanon, NJ
• Sonny Kasturi, West Orange, NJ
• Paul McElroy, Pfafftown, NC, Chair
• Martin Romeril, Bethlehem, PA
• James Tarpey, Sunset Beach, NC
• Elizabeth Warnecki, Ladson, SC
• Lillian (Beadsie) Woo, Durham, NC

Members Absent

• Bessie Moore, Mt. Laurel, NJ
• Steve Rue, Mechanicsville, VA
• Lyn Sinnamon, Arlington, VA

Staff Present

• Nancy L. Ferree, TAP Program Manager
• Inez E. De Jesus, TAP Program Analyst & Note Taker

Welcome
Area 2 Chair Paul McElroy opened the meeting by welcoming everyone.

Roll Call
Quorum of 9 was met; 13 members were present.

Joint Committee Report
Chair McElroy shared that on April 5, 2006, the Joint Committee approved the following two issues elevated by the area 2 Committee:

• Issue 3572, Consolidation of Schedule D & D-1 &
• Issue 3390, Timely Response Required on Envelopes

McElroy congratulated the committee for the teams’ efforts in working the elevated proposals, specifically to the subcommittees work. He explained why the email sent by Inez on April 6th to the committee was addressed: “Message from Chair Paul McElroy from the Mountain Top” since he happened to be in the mountains of North Carolina at the time.

McElroy shared that the TAP Annual Meeting will be held in D.C. during the week of December 11, 2006. He requested that Inez send an email out to all with this information. Action item for Inez.

McElroy also shared that there will be a meeting with the IRS Commissioner on April 20, 2006; there will be six TAP representatives and three of these are from area 2: Paul Brubaker, Sonny Kasturi, and Beadsie Woo.

Review & Approve Meeting Minutes- March 15, 2006
These minutes were approved by consensus.

Review “Draft” Proposal-Pub 393 & Household Employment Filing Requirements, Issue 3702
Sub-committee Team Leader Martin Romeril shared that they were down to one minor issue regarding taxpayers need to file Form 1099 Miscellaneous. The sub-committee hopes to have the final proposal for the Quality Review Team to review prior to the next monthly meeting.

Sub-committee Reports:

1. On Hold Wait Time, Issue 3685
   Lee Congdon reported that a list of questions for the subject-matter-experts was submitted to Nancy Ferree and she is currently in pursuit of the answers. Nancy shared that she has received a response back that written answers will be available within the next 2 weeks. This resulted in dialogue and the following request was made by the sub-committee:
   
   Action item for Nancy: She will give a heads up to the multiple subject-matter-expert(s) that written answers are acceptable by May 1st, and this is to be followed by a conference call with the subject-matter-expert(s) a week after receipt of the answers.
   
2. Revise EFTPS Registration Procedures, Issue 3736
   Elizabeth Warnecki reported that she has gone through the process of registration. At this time, she is not certain if there might be a need for a subject-matter-expert. Beadsie commented that there used to be a check-off box option. Elizabeth stated that there is a site she has not been on yet but will do so soon and keep everyone informed.
   
   
3. Filing of W-2’s & 1099 Misc. Electronically, Issue 3747
   Bob Haines and Paul McElroy both reported on the progress of the subcommittee work with this issue. This issue needs to be expanded. The original issue statement read: “The IRS should develop a system that would allow payers with less than 20, 1099’s to file them on-line.” They have learned that this can be done now; what there is a need for, is to do a better job of documenting it. The issue statement should now read: “You can now do a better job of documenting it.” Beadsie Woo stated that we should identify an easy way of doing it and make information more easily available.

   Action item for Paul McElroy and Inez: compose a follow-up letter to the submitter of this issue, Citizen from VA, with an explanation of where information is available.

Outreach Events Reports and Recruitment
McElroy stated that this committee continued in the month of March 2006, to do an excellent job of “Outreach”. He expressed kudos to JoAnn Davis since she had 7 different activities ranging from contact with one individual to thirty-five persons.

McElroy reminded everyone that this report is available on TAP Speak, and asked if there were any upcoming events. There was no response to this. McElroy concluded by telling the committee to: “Keep up the good work”.

Nancy Ferree reminded everyone that we were in the final days of “Recruitment for Panel Members”; the last day is April 28, 2006. She suggested that as panel members conduct outreach that they use this opportunity to spread the word about recruitment and refer interested parties to the TAP website.

New & Parking Lot Issues Report from the Screening Committee
Screening Committee Chair Emilio Cecchi opened this portion of the meeting by expressing his appreciation to all for their assistance and he made reference to the emails he has sent out with summaries of the recommendations made by the Screening Sub-committee.

Cecchi mentioned that at the face-to-face meeting in Philadelphia in June 2006, there will be a portion of the meeting dedicated to “Screening Committee Procedures.”

The date for the May Screening Committee teleconference has not been scheduled yet. Cecchi will send an invite to the entire committee once a date is assigned.

It was agreed that if there are no objections after Cecchi references an issue and the screening committee’s recommendation, then it is assumed that the recommendation is being accepted by the area 2 committee.

Cecchi began with “New Issues”

Issue 3868, Object Sale of Private Taxpayer Information to Third Parties — recommendation is to keep this in the screening committee and review again in May since both Congress and the National Taxpayer Advocate are currently reviewing this matter. Preference is to wait and see. Recommendation accepted.

Issue 3634, VITA Preparation of Schedule C— this issue was previously sent to the TAP Vita Issue Committee and returned back to area 2. Recommendation is to make it “Active” and assign to the previous sub-committee which was composed of Brubaker, Bly, Cecchi, Sinnamon, and Woo. Brubaker mentioned that we did receive direction from the IRS on what they may and may not accept.

Cecchi suggested that the IRS’ suggestions be shared with all and a teleconference be scheduled for the sub-committee to address this matter. Recommendation accepted.

The next group of issues that were addressed by Cecchi: “Postponed Issues”

Issue 3228, Efiling Alternates & Interactive Forms— Recommendation is to make this issue “Active” and to consider the suggestions to the IRS to alleviate the burden of the taxpayer regarding free e-file process. Recommendation accepted.

Issue 3740, Offer-in-Compromise (OIC) Appeals Process—Recommendation is to make this issue “Active” and to make sure that the work of the NTA should be monitored so that there is no duplication of efforts. Recommendation accepted.

Issue 3742, Exceptions to Private Letter Ruling Fee Increases— Recommendation is to make this issue “Active” and assign to Sonny Kasturi and Lyn Sinnamon. Recommendation accepted.

Issue 3743, Revise Form W-9 & LLC Instructions— Recommendation is to make this issue “Active” and to assign to Lee Congdon. Recommendation accepted.

The next group of issues that were addressed by Cecchi: those that had been in “Parking Lot” status for a while:

Issue 3302, Direct Number to AUR Unit for Practitioners— a notation was made that this issue is NOT connected to Issue 3685; Recommendation is to drop this issue. Recommendation accepted.

Issue 3446, Review Qualifications of an E-file Transmitter— Recommendation is to drop this issue. Recommendation accepted.

Issue 3456, Education Program on IRA’s to Seniors— This issue seems to be more of a personal financial planning matter and not in the TAP area of responsibility. Recommendation is to drop this issue. Recommendation accepted.

Issue 3636, W-4 Percentage Option Request— Recommendation is to drop this issue. Recommendation accepted.

Issue 3609, Review Processing of Form 4868— Recommendation is to make this issue “Active”. Recommendation accepted.

Issue 3737, IRS Correspondence to Provide Contact Information— Recommendation is to drop this issue. Recommendation accepted.

Issue 3739, Suggested Delayed Billing/Rewording of Notices— Recommendation is to make this issue “Active”- this is a burden to the taxpayer. Recommendation accepted.

Issue 3741, Automated Collection System (ACS) Line has Six Options— Blanche Davis shared her experience via email when she phoned the ACS toll free number, 1-800-829-3903. Recommendation is to make this issue “Active”. Recommendation accepted.

This concluded the screening committee’s report on their recommendations which were all accepted. Emilio Cecchi expressed his appreciation to both Blanche Davis and JoAnn Davis for all the work they provided to the screening committee. Cecchi informed everyone that he will continue to share screening committee information via emails.

The committee expressed their appreciation for all the efforts of the screening team.

Action item for Inez: Send out a list to the entire committee of all the current “7 Active” issues that do not have subcommittees assigned to them, and request that panel members rank these in priority order in which they should be worked. Also, if the member has an interest in working a particular issue, he/she should make it be known. Inez will then coordinate the responses and report back to the committee.

Public Input
None

Closing Assessment/Q&A
Area 2 Committee has received responses from the IRS on proposals elevated, these are:

• TAP 05-032, Publication 554, Older Americans Tax Guide, approved by the Joint Committee on September 2005 and response was received on April 19, 2006.
• TAP 05-033, Form SS-4 & LLC’s, approved by the Joint Committee on October 27, 2005 and response received on April 18, 2006.
• TAP 05-056, Forms W-7 and 1040NR Changes, approved by the Joint Committee on December 21, 2006 and response received on April 19, 2006.

These have all been sent to the committee by email.

Chair McElroy shared that since these were just received; he wanted to give the committee time to review the responses; this will be an agenda item for next month’s meeting. Action item: Add IRS responses to the May 17, 2006 agenda, for committees review.

The face-to-face meeting in Philadelphia, June 22-24, 2006 was briefly discussed. The leadership team will be meeting shortly with the TAP Staff in order to create the agenda for both May 17th teleconference and the June face-to-face meeting. Inez mentioned that she was close to finishing the agenda templates and will be scheduling a meeting soon. We need to allow ample time so if the is a need for subject-matter-experts, that DFO Terry Mapp has time to make the appropriate arrangements. Action item for TAP Staff.

Cecchi added that the screening committee’s procedures should be an agenda item for the upcoming face-to-face meeting.

McElroy reminded everyone to fill out the meeting satisfaction survey and submit these to Inez.

Chair McElroy adjourned the meeting and thanked everyone for their participation.

*Please note: Next Teleconference Meeting is scheduled for May 17, 2006 at 2:30 PM ET; Dial in information will remain the same until further notice.

**Certification: These minutes were approved by the TAP Area 2 Committee by consensus on May 17, 2006.